Students will know and will be able to understand: i) the European Union public certification schemes for quality food products and the EU strategies for the geographical indication (GI) protection in the international markets; ii) the value-adding products collective management systems iii) the attributes, both tangible and intangible, which characterize the high-quality agro-food and wine products and are appreciated by the European Union consumer and in the international markets; iii) the best strategies for promoting these products in various markets. Students will able to critically analyze the demand for food quality by recognizing the dynamics of the qualitative characteristics that can generate value. He/she will therefore be able to translate this knowledge into effective strategies for promoting the product in different markets, particularly those outside the EC, using the most appropriate marketing tools.

Examination methods:

The final mark is made up of three components: i) active participation during the lectures; i) individual project work and group project works based on a case-study analyses (PPT and/or written and oral reports); iii)oral exam. The weight of the three components will be provided to the students at the beginning of the course.

Assessment criteria:

Participation: active attitude in lectures;
individual and group project works: relevance (connection with course unit topics), good conceptual framework, absence of relevant conceptual errors, overall consistency and coordination, matching of objectives with conclusions, awareness of problems and critical approach, accuracy in quotations;
oral exam: knowledge of the topics, capacity to present and discuss them in a critical way, to place them in the correct context and to understand logic relationships with other topics of the course. Communication, making judgment and critical thinking skills will be particularly taken into account while evaluating the student.

Course unit contents:

1st credit: Introduction. The quality attributes within the supply chain and the value-adding food quality attributes as perceived by consumer.

2nd and 3rd credit: The food EU quality framework and the value-adding food quality schemes. The sui generis EU geographical indication (GI) protection. The issue of the GI international protection.

4th credit: The market of the value-adding food and wines.

5th and 6th credit: The structure, the collective management system of the GI supply chains and their marketing strategies.

The main topics are presented through lectures (ppt presentations, public websites sources), class work and experts’ seminars. Some “field trips” in private farms, companies and producers’ organisations are planned. Consequently the visits are jointly planned by the teachers of the same semester.

Additional notes about suggested reading:

PPT presentations and a list of readings (mainly papers) will be made available to students through the Moodle platform of the School at
https://elearning.unipd.it/scuolaamv/login/index.php
(enrolment key needed, ask the teacher).
At the moment no books covering the issues of the course are available in English.